You will need four plastic tubs, preferably with lids. If you
are etching small pieces, 8 X 10 X 5 is fine.

Fill Tub 1 with Ferric Chloride to about a depth of 3 inches.

Fill Tub 2 with water and two cups of baking soda. This will
neutralize the acid. It bubbles when piece is immersed. Don’t
worry.

Fill Tub 3 with water and 1/4 cup ammonia. This stops the acid
from biting completely.

Fill Tub 4 with plain water to rinse.

After your image has been transferred, duct tape works great as
a resist for the back. If you are working with really small
pieces, place the pieces image side up on the tape.

Suspend the tape across Tub 1 so all the pieces are immersed
image side down into the acid. They should not touch the bottom,
but rather lay in the upwards two/thirds of the bath. This
allows for the metal to float to the bottom.

Check your piece from time to time to see if you are getting any
underbiting. If so, clean your piece and pat dry. Beef up any
parts with your waterproof marker. In fresh acid, you should see
a good bite within two hours.

After etching, pull everything off and clean with a green
scrubby pad. If you have left over toner that won’t come off,
you can heat it with a torch and burn the rest of it off.

Remember: for a good image transfer, your metal must be cleaned
and have a “tooth”. The green scrubby helps do that. You can
clean the transfer film with denatured alcohol also. It won’t
hurt the image.

Good Luck!

Art is an absolute mistress; she will not be coquetted with or slighted;
she requires the most entire self-devotion, and she repays with grand
triumphs.